Contribution of psychoacoustics and neuroaudiology in revealing correlation of mental disorders with central auditory processing disorders

BACKGROUND: Psychoacoustics is a fascinating developing field concerned with the evaluation of the hearing sensation as an outcome of a sound or speech stimulus. Neuroaudiology with electrophysiologic testing, records the electrical activity of the auditory pathways, extending from the 8th cranial nerve up to the cortical auditory centers as a result of external auditory stimuli. Central Auditory Processing Disorders may co-exist with mental disorders and complicate diagnosis and outcome. DESIGN: A MEDLINE search was conducted to search for papers concerning the association between Central Auditory Processing Disorders and mental disorders. The research focused on the diagnostic methods providing the inter-connection of various mental disorders and central auditory deficits. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The medline research revealed 564 papers when using the keywords 'auditory deficits' and 'mental disorders'. 79 papers were referring specifically to Central Auditory Processing Disorders in connection with mental disorders. 175 papers were related to Schizophrenia, 126 to learning disabilities, 29 to Parkinson's disease, 88 to dyslexia and 39 to Alzheimer's disease. Assessment of the Central Auditory System is carried out through a great variety of tests that fall into two main categories: psychoacoustic and electrophysiologic testing. Different specialties are involved in the diagnosis and management of Central Auditory Processing Disorders as well as the mental disorders that may co-exist with them. As a result it is essential that they are all aware of the possibilities in diagnostic procedures. CONCLUSIONS: Considerable evidence exists that mental disorders may correlate with CAPD and this correlation could be revealed through psychoacoustics and neuroaudiology. Mental disorders that relate to Central Auditory Processing Disorders are: Schizophrenia, attention deficit disorders, Alzheimer's disease, learning disabilities, dyslexia, depression, auditory hallucinations, Parkinson's disease, alcoholism, anorexia and childhood mental retardation. Clinical awareness should be high in order for doctors of the two specialties, psychiatry and otorhinolaryngology-audiology to collaborate.     

Clinical psychoacoustics in Alzheimer's disease central auditory processing disorders and speech deterioration

BACKGROUND: Difficulty in speech understanding in the presence of background noise or competing auditory signals is typically present in central auditory processing disorders. These disorders may be diagnosed in Alzheimer's disease as a result of degeneration in the central auditory system. In addition perception and processing of speech may be affected. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A MEDLINE research was conducted in order to answer the question whether there is a central auditory processing disorder involved in Alzheimer's disease. A second question to be investigated was what, if any is the connection, between central auditory processing disorders and speech deterioration?Articles were retrieved from the Medline to find relevance of Alzheimer's dis ease with central auditory processing disorders, they summed up to 34. Twelve papers were studied that contained testing for CAPD through psychoacoustic investigation. An additional search using the keywords 'speech production' and 'AD' produced a result of 33 articles, of them 14 are thoroughly discussed in this review as they have references concerning CAPD. The rest do not contain any relavent information on the central auditory system. RESULTS: Psychoacoustic tests reveal significantly lower scores in patients with Alzheimer's disease compared with normal subjects. Tests concerning sound localization and perception of tones as well as phoneme discrimination and tonal memory reveal deficits in Alzheimer's disease. Central auditory processing disorders may exist several years before the onset of clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease. Segmental characteristics of speech are normal. Deficits exist concerning the supra-segmental components of speech. CONCLUSIONS: Central auditory processing disorders have been found in many cases when patients with Alzheimer's disease are tested. They may present as an early manifestation of Alzheimer's disease, preceding the disease by a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 10 years. During these years changes in the central auditory system, starting in the temporal lobe, may produce deficits in speech processing and production as hearing and speech are highly connected human functions. Another theory may be that spread of degeneration of the central nervous system has as a consequence, speech deterioration. Further research and central auditory processing disorders testing in the elderly population are needed to validate one theory over the other.     

Parathyroid involvement in thyroid cancer: an unforeseen event

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Parathyroid metastatic disease from thyroid cancer has not been studied extensively, mainly due to the need for parathyroid preservation during thyroid surgery. METHODS: We reviewed files from 1,770 patients with thyroid cancer followed up in our department and 10 patients with parathyroid metastases (0.5 %) were identified. Patient and tumor characteristics were recorded. RESULTS: Six out of ten patients had metastasis from papillary thyroid cancer, three from follicular thyroid cancer and one from anaplastic thyroid cancer. In nine patients parathyroid infiltration from thyroid cancer was found in direct contact with the thyroid cancer, and in one patient metastatic foci were observed not in continuity with the thyroid cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Parathyroid involvement, although infrequent, may occur in thyroid cancer independently of patient age and tumor size. The clinical significance of such event is not clear. The influence on disease outcome remains to be elucidated.     

An integrative expression vector for <Emphasis Type="Italic">Actinosynnema pretiosum</Emphasis>

Background  

The Actinomycete Actinosynnema pretiosum ssp. auranticum has commercial importance due to its production of ansamitocin P-3 (AP-3), a potent antitumor agent. One way to increase AP-3 production would be to constitutively express selected genes so as to relieve bottlenecks in the biosynthetic pathway; however, an integrative expression vector for A. pretiosum is lacking. The aim of this study was to construct a vector for heterologous gene expression in A. pretiosum.     

Development and standardization of multiplexed antibody microarrays for use in quantitative proteomics

BACKGROUND: Quantitative proteomics is an emerging field that encompasses multiplexed measurement of many known proteins in groups of experimental samples in order to identify differences between groups. Antibody arrays are a novel technology that is increasingly being used for quantitative proteomics studies due to highly multiplexed content, scalability, matrix flexibility and economy of sample consumption. Key applications of antibody arrays in quantitative proteomics studies are identification of novel diagnostic assays, biomarker discovery in trials of new drugs, and validation of qualitative proteomics discoveries. These applications require performance benchmarking, standardization and specification. RESULTS: Six dual-antibody, sandwich immunoassay arrays that measure 170 serum or plasma proteins were developed and experimental procedures refined in more than thirty quantitative proteomics studies. This report provides detailed information and specification for manufacture, qualification, assay automation, performance, assay validation and data processing for antibody arrays in large scale quantitative proteomics studies. CONCLUSION: The present report describes development of first generation standards for antibody arrays in quantitative proteomics. Specifically, it describes the requirements of a comprehensive validation program to identify and minimize antibody cross reaction under highly multiplexed conditions; provides the rationale for the application of standardized statistical approaches to manage the data output of highly replicated assays; defines design requirements for controls to normalize sample replicate measurements; emphasizes the importance of stringent quality control testing of reagents and antibody microarrays; recommends the use of real-time monitors to evaluate sensitivity, dynamic range and platform precision; and presents survey procedures to reveal the significance of biomarker findings.     

The chromosomes of a catfishParasilurus aristotelis from Greece

The karyotype of the catfish,Parasilurus aristotelis, from Lake Trichonis, Greece, shows that the species has a diploid chromosome number of 2n = 58. Comparison with published data on the karyotypes of other species belonging toParasilurus shows the same chromosome number but different arm numbers. Reported karyological data of the European populations ofSilurus indicate that they have a diploid number of 2n=60. A reduction in chromosome number is assumed to be connected with speciation and, therefore,Parasilurus probably forms a separate group from that ofSilurus.     

Genetic and environmental influence on lung function impairment in Swedish twins

Background

The purpose of this study was to evaluate collagen deposition, mRNA collagen synthesis and TGF-beta expression in the lung tissue in an experimental model of scleroderma after collagen V-induced nasal tolerance.

Methods

Female New Zealand rabbits (N = 12) were immunized with 1 mg/ml of collagen V in Freund's adjuvant (IM). After 150 days, six immunized animals were tolerated by nasal administration of collagen V (25 μg/day) (IM-TOL) daily for 60 days. The collagen content was determined by morphometry, and mRNA expressions of types I, III and V collagen were determined by Real-time PCR. The TGF-beta expression was evaluated by immunostaining and quantified by point counting methods. To statistic analysis ANOVA with Bonferroni test were employed for multiple comparison when appropriate and the level of significance was determined to be p < 0.05.

Results

IM-TOL, when compared to IM, showed significant reduction in total collagen content around the vessels (0.371 ± 0.118 vs. 0.874 ± 0.282, p < 0.001), bronchioles (0.294 ± 0.139 vs. 0.646 ± 0.172, p < 0.001) and in the septal interstitium (0.027 ± 0.014 vs. 0.067 ± 0.039, p = 0.026). The lung tissue of IM-TOL, when compared to IM, showed decreased immunostaining of types I, III and V collagen, reduced mRNA expression of types I (0.10 ± 0.07 vs. 1.0 ± 0.528, p = 0.002) and V (1.12 ± 0.42 vs. 4.74 ± 2.25, p = 0.009) collagen, in addition to decreased TGF-beta expression (p < 0.0001).

Conclusions

Collagen V-induced nasal tolerance in the experimental model of SSc regulated the pulmonary remodeling process, inhibiting collagen deposition and collagen I and V mRNA synthesis. Additionally, it decreased TGF-beta expression, suggesting a promising therapeutic option for scleroderma treatment.     

Enzyme kinetic and molecular modelling studies of sulphur-containing substrates of phenylalanine 4-monooxygenase

Previous investigations into the binding of substrates/cofactors to the PAH active site have only concentrated on Phe, thienylalanine and BH(4). This is the first reported investigation to model aliphatic thioether amino acid substrates to PAH. The clearance of the thioether substrates (4.82-79.09% of Phe) in the rat and human (1.19-37.41% of Phe) showed species differences. The xenobiotic thioether substrates (SMC and SCMC) were predicted to be poor substrates for PAH by the molecular modelling investigation and this has now been confirmed by the in vitro enzyme kinetic data. However, reaction phenotyping investigations have found that PAH was the major enzyme involved in the metabolism of SCMC in vitro and in vivo.     

No linkage to obesity in candidate regions of chromosome 2 and 10 in a selected sample of Swedish twins.

The aim of the current study was to investigate the importance of genetic and environmental effects in the variation of body mass index, and to investigate linkage for obesity to previously reported candidate regions on chromosome 2 and 10. A sample of 1422 twin pairs from the population based Swedish Twin Registry was used in order to estimate the genetic and environmental effects in the variation of body mass index by means of structural equation modeling. A selection of those, 51 concordant and 155 discordant for obesity, was used for the linkage analysis by implementing the "combined" Haseman-Elston approach. Heritability of body mass index ranged from 59-70%, implying that genetic effects were of importance for the variation of obesity, and there were significant sex and age differences. Linkage could not be verified in candidate regions of chromosomes 2 and 10, indicating that these genetic variants have a significant effect in extreme obese populations rather than in moderately obese Caucasians. However, the results were sensitive to issues related to power, minor effects of the genes, ethnic differences and the complex mechanism underlying obesity.